Rated R for horror violence/gore and language. 82 min. Three
stars out of four.

You'd be justified in thinking you've visited "Zombieland”
before. There's been no shortage of zombies at the movies in recent
years, just as there's been no shortage of vampires.

And within that genre, a crop of zombie comedies has arisen,
from "Shaun of the Dead” to "Zombie Strippers” to "Dead Snow.” Like
"Shaun” before it, though, "Zombieland” mostly finds that tricky
balance of the laugh-out-loud funny and the make-you-jump scary, of
deadpan laughs and intense energy.

It's a total blast even if the story is a bit thin, and it does
run out of steam toward the end, but thankfully our trip to
"Zombieland” is appropriately quick.

First-time director Ruben Fleischer grabs you from the get-go
with stylized visuals, and the script from Rhett Reese and Paul
Wernick is hilariously bizarre while still remaining rooted in
contemporary reality.

Jesse Eisenberg stars as an uber-nerdy college student who's
managed to survive a viral zombie outbreak by adhering to a strict
series of rules, which are inspired by his innate fear of
everything. While trying to get home to Ohio to see what's become
of his parents, he runs into a fellow survivor (Woody Harrelson)
who's his brash, butt-kicking opposite.

They come to regard each other by their destinations — Columbus
and Tallahassee — rather than their real names to avoid forging a
personal relationship, should potential zombiedom force either of
them to take drastic action against the other. Emma Stone and
Abigail Breslin co-star as Wichita and Little Rock, sisters who
join them in hopes of staying alive.

'The Invention of Lying'

Rated PG-13 for language including some sexual material and
a drug reference. 99 min. One and a half stars out of
four.

It would be such a joy to bend the truth and say that "The
Invention of Lying” lives up to the potential of its inspired
premise.

The conceit — that an alternate universe exists where everyone
tells the truth all the time — sets up an uproarious beginning, but
then the movie plummets precipitously. It's not just the
high-concept gag wears thin, which it does.

The bigger problem is that Ricky Gervais, in his directorial
debut (alongside co-director and co-writer Matthew Robinson),
zig-zags awkwardly between dark humor and heavy melodrama. One
character is suicidal and another is on the verge of dying, both of
which are played uncomfortably for laughs. It certainly doesn't
help that "The Invention of Lying” is lighted so hideously,
everyone looks like death — even Rob Lowe and Tina Fey.

This is especially obvious given Gervais' fondness for cutting
back and forth between close-ups his actors, which he does with
distracting frequency.

On camera himself, he's likable enough as Mark Bellison, a
wisecracking sad sack who discovers the unheard-of notion of lying
one day and explores its many benefits. But sharing scenes with him
are Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton and Jason Bateman, who go
to waste in barely-there cameos.

Comedians like Fey, Jeffrey Tambor and Louis C.K. get a bit more
time on screen but their characters are flatly one-note. Gervais
deserves credit for approaching the idea that God and heaven are
part of an elaborate lie meant to assuage the masses — a bold move
for a big-studio comedy with lots of stars — but then backs off, as
if he and Robinson hadn't thought it through all the way.